Bus passengers warned of ‘significant’ fare increases and service cuts if Scottish Government funding ends

Bus service cuts and fare rises are threatened if the Scottish Government does not extend pandemic recovery funding beyond next month, the country’s biggest operator has told The Scotsman.

The warning from Glasgow and Aberdeen’s main operator First was echoed by other senior industry figures, one of whom said Scotland faced a “looming cliff edge” because of the likely widespread impact on the most vulnerable people.

The threatened axing of the Network Support Grant Plus (NSG+) scheme comes despite similar funding being extended until March in England and Wales.

First Bus Scotland managing director Duncan Cameron said: “If funding does end, operators will have to look at fare revisions again and some routes will struggle to be sustainable.

First Bus Scotland managing director Duncan Cameron said if funding is cut "some hard decisions will have to be made". Picture: First Bus/Lenny Warren

"Some hard decisions will have to be made.”

Buses account for 75 per cent of Scotland’s public transport, with more than 250 million trips a year – four times as many as by rail.

However, passenger numbers are still 20 per cent down on pre-Covid levels and operators are struggling with staff shortages and surging costs such as fuel.

Journeys by the over-60s and others eligible for free travel, which accounted for 40 per cent of total bus trips before the pandemic, are down by one third as older people harbour Covid fears.

Transport minister Jenny Gilruth announced in June a three-month extension of the NSG+ scheme at a cost of £25.7 million, weeks after The Scotsman revealed her officials had accepted that axing it would trigger “sharp cuts”, particularly in rural areas.

Ralph Roberts, UK president of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, which represents operators, said there would be “significant” fares increases and around 17 per cent of bus routes scrapped in some areas if the funding wasn’t extended.

Roberts, who is also managing director of McGill's Buses, which runs services in Inverclyde, Dundee and across the Central Belt, said it would put Scotland “significantly out of step with the rest of the UK”.